Mike Kasem thinks doing a great movie scene is a Zen moment

SINGAPORE — Mike Kasem has had a taste of what it’s like to be a movie actor — and has decided he prefers to keep his day job.

“My life is pretty good as a DJ. I go on for three hours and my job is just to have a crack of laughs and listen to some music. Frees up some time for golf!” quipped the MediaCorp Radio Class 95FM DJ. “Whereas being an actor... Well, I’m just thinking of the Channel 5 and 8 guys, who are spending all day in their outfits…”

Still, there’s always a first time for the 41-year-old, who’s appearing in the horror film Afterimages, which opens on Thurs (Sept 11). “

“When you’ve done a good show (on-air), you know you’re doing well if you’re having lots of laughs. If you said something funny and nailed it, it feels great. However, if you do a great (movie) scene, it’s like catching a perfect wave if you’re a surfer. It’s a Zen moment.”

Not that the audience will be having Zen moments watching a movie with the tagline A Collection Of Horror Stories From Hell.

Director Tony Kern loves his paranormal stuff — he previously did A Month Of Hungry Ghosts and Haunted Changi. Afterimages, meanwhile, is a film anthology comprising five short stories that include ghosts pulling swimmers’ legs, a suicide jumper, and being stuck in an elevator with a mysterious woman.

“If anyone had given me some money when I was in my 20s, I would’ve done a really gory, messy pre-Saw movie,” said the 45-year-old Singapore-based American. “I watched a lot of horror movies as a kid growing up, the black-and-white ones, the Asian ones. I think I even saw the Japanese horror movie Kwaidan (1964) as a little kid, because I remember those scenes when I revisited them as an adult.”

But Kern won’t be pigeonholed into this one genre — unless people demand for more. “I’ll do it if people are clamouring for it. I have more, many more! But I’m looking at a children’s live animation blockbuster super-type thing. A little kid creates a superhero. Or maybe a science-fiction romance? I’ve got some drama that I want to do too.”

Afterimages opens in cinemas on Sept 11.